Holmes: The run and the fun

Sunday

Apr 20, 2014 at 12:01 AMApr 20, 2014 at 9:53 AM

By Rick HolmesOpinion editor

If you just watch it on TV or read about it in the sports section, the Boston Marathon is a big-time sporting event, an occasion carrying extra emotional weight because of what happened at the finish line last year.But in the towns that line the Marathon route, it's something else: an all-day block party, 26 miles long. For more than a century, people around here have treated the Marathon as a family tradition, our own special holiday, OUR race.That tradition has had to accommodate the ambitions of the Boston Athletic Association, its corporate sponsors and the elite running establishment, all of whom think it's THEIR race. We've welcomed the world to our race, with patience and good humor. Now we must deal with the legacy of the two guys from Cambridge charged with crashing the party a year ago. The question this year is, how much will the extra security spoil the fun?The people will come out to celebrate, probably in greater numbers than ever before. This year, attending the Boston Strong Marathon is almost a patriotic obligation.That means more guests at our block party, more folks asking to park in the driveway. There will be picnics in front yards, town parks and parking lots all the way into Boston. It's a big day for businesses along the Marathon route, and for local charities of all kinds. They'll be serving up pancakes just off the Hopkinton Common. Bars along the route in Ashland and Framingham will do a booming business.Volunteers and their young helpers will hand out orange slices and water in plastic cups to the runners speeding by. The women of Wellesley College will be right up against the road, cheering themselves hoarse and giving runners a special lift at the 12-mile mark.They'll cheer for the wheelchair racers first, then the elite women, then the elite men and four waves of non-elite runners. The runners used to all start at noon, but the times were moved up for the convenience of the elite runners. That means our picnics have to start earlier – the roads to downtown Hopkinton close at 7 a.m.Spectators will be in high spirits as soon as they see the runners on their way. They'll high-five total strangers and give fleeting hugs to friends and relatives making the run.People will cheer for the "bandits" as well: the unofficial runners who don't have the money or the qualifying time in another marathon required to get an official bib for Boston. They'll cheer for the guy well behind the pack, dressed like Groucho Marx and running around in circles. They'll yell for the masked superhero, the guy with the beer-can helmet and the woman whose T-shirt says she's running to raise money for charity or honor a friend. At least that's how it's always been.The elite runners and the BAA have always hated the bandits. They are freeloaders who get in the way of the "real" runners. They use up scarce resources, like the volunteers in the medical tents, the orange slices and cups of water. They don't belong to the club.Most of us along the route know people who have run the Marathon, as a feat of youthful exuberance, a middle-aged demonstration of vigor or a noble fund-raising effort. They aren't elite runners who travel the world from marathon to marathon. For them, it's not about the time; it's about finishing the race. It's about surviving Heartbreak Hill and the pride of making it to Copley Square.But this year it's different, we're told.Thousands of police and uniformed National Guard members will stand sentry, with thousands of plainclothes police working the crowd. There will be surveillance cameras everywhere, and checkpoints controlling the crowds at Hopkinton Common and along the route.The all-day party will be more complicated: No backpacks full of snacks allowed, and no over-the-shoulder bags. No coolers permitted, police say, and no bottled liquids more than a liter.There will be more barriers, too, especially the closer you get to Boston, separating runners from spectators. Will the Wellesley coeds be able to high-five the runners?No masks allowed, no costumes. "This isn't the year for that kind of thing," an official said ominously at a press conference this week.And no bandits. This time they mean it, they say.That will please the running elitists, reinforcing the barrier between athletes and spectators. It's another step toward making it their race, not our race.It's a matter of public safety, they say.But Tamerlin and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev didn't run from Hopkinton, lugging their bomb-laden backpacks 26.2 miles. Their senseless act was not an assault on the Marathon. Published reports say the brothers had planned to attack the July 4th celebration on the Esplanade, but the bombs were ready ahead of schedule.Not to put too fine a point on it, but the Tsarnaevs were killers, not bandits.But the Marathon must go on, bigger and better each year. There's been talk in years past of moving it to the weekend, to get a national TV contract.One of the best things about the Marathon is that – unlike every other big-time sport – there's no admissions charge. Now there's a grandstand viewing area near the finish line for special guests, by invitation only. Will we someday see reserved seating along the route for those who want to pay for a better view?Tomorrow's no time for grumbling, though, and I hope we won't see partiers harassed or bandits handcuffed. We're Boston Strong. Let's have a great race AND a great block party.Rick Holmes, opinion editor for the Daily News, blogs at Holmes & Co. (http://blogs.wickedlocal.com/holmesandco). He can be reached at rholmes@wickedlocal.com.